Russia's unprovoked invasion of Ukraine
U.N. says no ships in grain corridor when Russia says it was attacked
UNITED NATIONS, Oct 31 (Reuters) - The United Nations on Monday said no ships involved in a U.N.-brokered Ukraine Black Sea grain export deal were transiting a maritime humanitarian corridor on the night of Oct. 29, when Russia says its vessels in Crimea were attacked.
Russia has accused Ukraine of using air and maritime drones to target vessels in the Bay of Sevastopol early on Saturday. Russia's defence ministry suggested one of the drones may have been launched from a civilian vessel chartered by Ukraine or a Western country to export food from Ukrainian ports.
cramer said:
U.N. says no ships in grain corridor when Russia says it was attacked
UNITED NATIONS, Oct 31 (Reuters) - The United Nations on Monday said no ships involved in a U.N.-brokered Ukraine Black Sea grain export deal were transiting a maritime humanitarian corridor on the night of Oct. 29, when Russia says its vessels in Crimea were attacked.
Russia has accused Ukraine of using air and maritime drones to target vessels in the Bay of Sevastopol early on Saturday. Russia's defence ministry suggested one of the drones may have been launched from a civilian vessel chartered by Ukraine or a Western country to export food from Ukrainian ports.
Russia certainly displays a consistent approach to their agreements with Ukraine, don't they? Decide they want to break an agreement -- say, the Budapest memorandum, or this Black Sea Grain Initiative. Break it, then claim they were forced to do so for reasons that are transparently pretextual and generally turn out to be mostly or completely false.
But sure, we should believe that here was some good-faith agreement available last year to prevent Russia from invading, or that some good faith agreement is possible now to get Russia to stop.
The actual text of the agreement, btw, for those interested: https://www.un.org/sites/un2.un.org/files/black_sea_grain_initiative_full_text.pdf
Erdogan: Russia to resume participation in grain deal
"Russian participation in the Black Sea Grain Initiative, which was brokered by the U.N. and Turkey, is to resume on Nov. 2, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said after receiving confirmation from Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu.
"After the call we held yesterday with (Russian President Vladimir) Putin, Russian Defence Minister Shoigu called our National Defence Minister Hulusi Akar and said the grain transports would continue as agreed at 12 p.m. today," Erdogan said, as quoted by Reuters."
https://kyivindependent.com/news-feed/erdogan-russia-to-resume-participation-in-grain-deal
Looks like Putin is losing his grip..
https://www.yahoo.com/news/former-economic-advisor-russian-government-084352842.html
Ukraine is demanding an apology from Hungary after Prime Minister Viktor Orban was seen wearing a scarf that appeared to show parts of western Ukraine in a map of Hungary.…
Pope Francis on Wednesday compared the war in Ukraine to the “terrible Holodomor genocide” of the 1930s, when the policies of the Soviet dictator, Josef Stalin, caused a devastating famine in Ukraine.
The pontiff’s comparison of Moscow’s attacks on civilian targets in Ukraine to Stalin’s decision to let millions in Ukraine starve represents one of his strongest condemnations yet of the Russian invasion.
“Moving energy reliance away from Russia may be expensive, but fuel freedom from “tyrannies” is priceless”…
Ukrainian MP Oleksiy Goncharenko
Putin regrets not taking Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts in 2014.
Last week he destroyed the power supply to all of Ukraine’s nuclear plants. Next week he might abandon the largest nuclear plant he seized in March. In the meantime, his army is stealing everything they can get their slimy hands on.
Wagner mercenaries are being killed by the Russians if they retreat from battle. What a great adventure this whole “special military operation” has been eh….
Putin and his cult of followers can go to hell. Evil bastards.
Black Russian anyone? Just add a few more ounces of vodka…
https://www.yahoo.com/news/putin-prison-recruiting-scheme-takes-091020534.html
Russian colonel in charge of recruiting conscripts shoots himself five times at his boss’s desk….
https://www.yahoo.com/news/widow-says-fed-putin-colonel-183036312.html
Jaytee said:
Russian colonel in charge of recruiting conscripts shoots himself five times at his boss’s desk….https://www.yahoo.com/news/widow-says-fed-putin-colonel-183036312.html
Using the same gun? I remember in the movie The Constant Gardner where a women died from gunshot wounds from different weapons but her death was determined to be suicide.
tjohn said:
Using the same gun? I remember in the movie The Constant Gardner where a women died from gunshot wounds from different weapons but her death was determined to be suicide.
no mention of different guns. I’m guessing they found five exact shell casings by his chair…I wouldn’t have been one bit surprised if he had gotten up and walked over to the nearest window and leaped…
Russian and Belarusian forces amassing in Belarus. Could be to distract the Ukrainian military from Crimea.
I mentioned this on the Putin thread, but if you want to donate money for Ukraine humanitarian aid, who are the best organizations? I have been told that Catholic Charities is very good, but are there other charities that you know are good? I understand that major organizations and governments are already helping, but it seems that we smaller donors can help. Helping people actually in Ukraine as well as refugees in other countries should be helped.
PEN America issues a report on Russian efforts (including efforts in those parts of Ukraine it controlled before the "official invasion") to suppress Ukrainian culture.
REPORT EXPOSES RUSSIA’S FAR-REACHING WAR OF CULTURAL ERASURE AGAINST UKRAINE
"Widespread destruction of Ukraine’s museums, theaters and libraries, the persecution of writers and artists, and other attacks against Ukrainian heritage expose the breadth of Russia’s attempts to erase the country’s cultural identity as a tactic of war, according to a new report by PEN America and PEN Ukraine released today."
"The report also found that the Russian Federation has undertaken a deliberate campaign of repression and human rights abuses against writers and other creative voices in Crimea, Luhansk, and Donetsk since its illegal occupation began in 2014. These tactics form part of repeated and persistent efforts to suppress Ukrainian and Crimean Tatar culture and include efforts to quash the use of these languages in schools, the destruction of books, and limiting access to or banning independent and Ukrainian- and Crimean Tatar-language media."
The Ukrainian military is warning of another attempt by Putin to take Kyiv. The amassing of Russian troops and heavy equipment in Belarus is concerning. We need to get those patriots over there soon, along with armored vehicles, tanks, air power and long range missiles. This winter will decide the fate of Ukraine’s army.
Important NY Times special section in today's paper.
nohero said:
Important NY Times special section in today's paper.
“Putin’s war is turning Russia into a failed state, with uncontrolled borders, private military formations, a fleeing population, moral decay and the possibility of civil conflict.”
via @TheEconomist
In today's paper, there's a short feature about the reporting, which has some good summaries (unlocked):. What Russia Got Wrong: A cascade of military failures started with Vladimir Putin.
"It was a cascade of failures, and at the top is Putin’s own misguidedness, his own isolation and his own conviction that he knew what was best. The Russian military was unprepared all the way down to a tactical level, like using Soviet-era maps. Like using their cellphones to call home, which gave away their positions and allowed them to be ambushed or attacked. There wasn’t enough food to feed the soldiers."
"We got hold of actual copies of some of the invasion plans that some of the Russian military units had, which showed them expecting to race toward Kyiv within hours of invading. Russian military leaders didn’t think they’d need any reinforcements."
"I talked to many people who knew Putin personally, and they told me that the decision to go to war was based on his gut feeling. Putin didn’t seem to think he needed advice on the wisdom of this invasion. Putin was convinced that he knew best, that he understood Ukraine and its place in history as well as his own."
And probably most ominous (which Putin boosters will dismiss or even ignore): "Putin recognizes that things haven’t gone to plan, but that doesn’t mean he’s going to fold. He is willing to accept a lot of casualties — up to 300,000, according to what one NATO member is now telling allies. The way Putin looks at it is that the Soviet Union lost 27 million people in World War II, and he’s convinced that the Russian people are prepared to suffer — more than people in the West."
Back in the late 70's the Army had a short pamphlet on Russian combat practices in WW II. An officer friend of mine sent it to the commanding general of the 1st Armored Division for his thoughts. One thing he noted is that Russians might no longer be willing to die the way they did in WW II.
I don't know if Putin necessarily understands this and that is why we need to do everything we can to help Ukraine prepare for the next Russian move. It seems like the Russians are working on rebuilding and retraining their army in hopes of launching an offensive in a couple of months. The AFU have to make the offensive to costly even for Putin.
I do think that advances in weaponry have changed the calculus with regard to the quantitative advantage the attacking army needs in order to succeed. The conventional wisdom was a 3:1 advantage. I am sure it must be more like 5:1 now along with the ability to concentrate forces and attack on very short notice. So, this should be in Ukraine's favor
tjohn said:
Back in the late 70's the Army had a short pamphlet on Russian combat practices in WW II. An officer friend of mine sent it to the commanding general of the 1st Armored Division for his thoughts. One thing he noted is that Russians might no longer be willing to die the way they did in WW II.
An invasion of a neighboring country that hasn't attacked you is a much harder sell than defending against an invasion of your own country.
Yeah, yeah, Ukraine and the the West are somehow guilty of "attacking" Russia by ousting Yanukovych and not agreeing to let Russia peel off the Donbas, but given how weakly that claim comes across here in the U.S. where we can safely intellectualize reality away, it's hard to see that as a compelling argument to ask people to lay their lives on the line for.
https://www.nytimes.com/live/2022/12/20/world/russia-ukraine-news/zelensky-congress-washington-trip?smid=url-share
”President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine is expected to make a daring trip on Wednesday to meet with President Biden at the White House and address Congress in person, according to four people familiar with the planning.”
— Nina Ліндфорс (@MarinaLindfors) December 21, 2022
"We defeated Russia in the battle for the minds of the world."
Zelenskyy: Against all odds and doom and gloom scenarios, Ukraine didn't fall. Ukraine is alive and kicking.And it gives me good reason to share with you our first joint victory. We defeated Russia in the battle for minds of the world pic.twitter.com/mpnhaxOJBo
— Acyn (@Acyn) December 22, 2022
Meanwhile, on the fcuking scumbag news channel, this is what was on tonight.
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I think you did it.